WWDC 2023: Apple Vision Pro, iOS 17, MacBook Air, and more announced

WWDC 2023 keynote was yesterday. Apple starts its Worldwide Developer Conference with a few hours of straight announcements, usually covering OS, watchOS, and new and updated gadgets. The keynote stream includes a BINGO game.

You’ve prepared for our predictions by now. Relax while the team summarizes the biggest news.

Mac 15″

Dream big. Apple’s largest consumer laptop.

• Three pounds and 11.5 mm thin, touted as the “thinnest 15-inch laptop to date.”
• 18 hours of battery life.
• Six speakers.

Mac Studio

Apple’s small but powerful Mac Studio desktop computer is getting a silicon update and new M2 Max and M2 Ultra models.

• Triple the height of a Mac Mini.
• New chip performance is the main difference.
• 40% faster neural engine.
• Increased video bandwidth allows fast 8K display connections.

MacPro

The Apple Silicon–powered desktop and rack-mounted Mac Pro workstation were unannounced. Find out.

M2 Ultra

Apple’s most powerful silicon chip, M2 Ultra, follows the M1 playbook.

• The Ultra M2 is two M1 Max dies in one package.
• It uses 5 nm technology and has 134 billion transistors, 24 CPU cores, up to 76 GPU cores (60-core option), and a 32-core Neural Engine. The CPU has 16 next-gen high-performance and eight high-efficiency cores.
• The M2 Ultra supports 192 GB of unified memory and 800 GB of memory bandwidth.

NameDrop, Journal app, Standby, Autocorrect, no “hey Siri” in iOS 17

• NameDrop, a new AirDrop feature, lets you share your phone number and photos easily. The process: Share your phone number and email address when your phones are close. NameDrop works with iPhones and Apple Watches. More here.
• Journal is Apple’s new journaling app. The iPhone suggests photos, activities, location, music, workouts, and more using on-device machine learning. Journal lets developers make quick suggestions from third-party app data. Read on.
• Standby is a new full-screen nightstand experience. When you put your phone down at night, you can see the time, alarm, or customize the display. Standby lets you use your iPhone as a dynamic photo slideshow to display your best shots and update them. Standby turns your iPhone into an office calendar. Find out.
• Apple’s autocorrect now uses an AI model to better predict your next words and phrases. It learns your most-used words, including swear words, over time.
• iOS 17 removes the “hey” from “Hey Siri,” a surprise. Find out.
• Apple didn’t announce these iOS 17 features at WWDC 2023.

iOS Messages

Apple is revamping the iPhone’s most popular app, Messages.

• View transcribed voice messages and hide iMessage apps.
• New safety feature: “Check In” lets iPhone users let friends and family know they got home safely or where they were last.
• Voice message transcriptions and faster search are also available.

iPadOS 17 and iPad updates

iPadOS 17 is Apple’s latest iPadOS. The new version has better widgets with live interactions, a customizable Home Screen like the iPhone, and new native apps like the Health and Notes apps. Find out.

Let’s examine iPad’s new features.

iPadOS 17 will introduce the iPad Health app later this year. The app was previously iPhone-only.

• Electrocardiogram results will be displayed on a larger screen.
• Privacy: Health data is securely synced so you can view it on your iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, and compatible third-party apps and devices.
• iPad developers can now create health and fitness experiences with HealthKit.
• Health metrics, prescriptions, lab tests, and more will be larger. Health info.

Apple announced new iPhone and Apple Watch features for mental health. Find out.

Apple is improving PDF editing with Live Collaboration. iPad OS 17 uses machine learning to identify PDF fields so you can fill them out quickly, which is important for people without Adobe Acrobat. This works with iPad photos of scanned documents. About Live Collaboration.

Sonoma is MacOS 14

Apple’s latest desktop OS, macOS 14, is named after Sonoma, California.

• What’s new: Interactive widgets on the desktop and a game mode to limit distractions amid a growing silicon title selection.
• What else? A new overlay feature cuts out the speaker and plays them against a dynamic background, a nod to all our teleconferencing. Fireworks are also new.

AirPods

AirPods were remembered today. These gadgets were updated to improve user experience. The new Adaptive Audio feature blends active noise cancellation mode and transparency mode to make it easier to use noise cancellation and stay aware while walking. Apple also plans to improve automatic switching.

Apple TV

TV FaceTime? Yes, please! Watch for this new Apple TV feature. This will use an iPhone or iPad’s Continuity Camera as a webcam and Apple’s AI-powered Center Stage to frame you while you watch TV. Apple TV FaceTime information.

Let’s face it—the Apple TV remote is slippery. Siri can now locate yours if it disappears.

VisionPro AR headset

Apple Vision Pro AR headset. Eyes, hands, and face control its 3D interface.

• The hardware uses “EyeSight,” a front-facing display that shows your eyes to others in the room. Due to on-board passthrough, the product is mixed reality, but the company seems uninterested in virtual reality.
• It seems to prioritize email and work over gaming. Users can even project their Mac desktop.
• Disney CEO Bob Iger said Disney+ will launch on Apple Vision Pro.
• VisionOS is the latest Vision Pro operating system.
• Editor-in-Chief Matthew Panzarino gave a 30-minute Apple Vision Pro demo.

WatchOS 10

Apple previewed smartwatch OS updates:

• They include a new user interface with a widget focus, refreshed first-party apps, and other features.
• Why is user interface important? Apple Watch’s user interface hasn’t been updated in years, and several top third-party apps have left the App Store.
• Turning the Digital Crown opens watchOS 10 widgets. The Apple Watch’s Digital Crown used to take you home.
• Core apps like World Clock will be updated.